Union Bank being sealed off by Enugu state government
A
dramatic incident in Enugu has seen bank workers belonging to 8 top
banks in the state forced out of their offices as the buildings are
sealed off.
Eight top banks were sealed off in Enugu state for disobeying the
directive by the state government to remit Withholding Taxes worth
about N1billion into the coffers of the State Government.
As a result, the Enugu State Board of Internal Revenue, after
obtaining Exparte Orders from the Enugu State High Court, sealed off the
banks.
According to Mr. Emeka Odo Chairman, Enugu State Board of Internal
Revenue the banks failed to heed several warnings conveyed to its
management.
A statement from Odo reads:
"Eight banks were this morning sealed by the Enugu State
Government for failure to remit about N1, 000,000,000.00 (One Billion
naira) in taxes to the coffer official the state government.
The state government, through the Enugu State Board of Internal
Revenue (ESBIR) on Feburary 6 and 16, 2017, obtained Exparte Orders
from the Enugu State High Court to distrain the affected banks. The
Board began the enforcement exercise this morning, and I wish to state
that it was very successful.
The eight banks are Access Bank PLC, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Skye
Bank, Union Bank, Unity Bank, Heritage (Enterprise) Bank, Keystone Bank,
and Sterling Bank.
The branches of the affected banks in the State, which are now
under lock and key will remain locked until they pay to the state
government the taxes they have collected on its behalf.
The government has been encouraging individual tax payers and
tax agents to comply voluntarily by paying their taxes promptly. We have
reformed the process of remittances of government revenues to make it
easy for banks to pay their taxes like other corporate citizens.
In the past one year we have written the affected banks
severally and held meetings with them on the subject matter but they
would rather hold onto government funds illegally.
The action of the affected banks has been denying the State
government of the funds it needs to execute its developmental programmes
that would impact positively on the lives of the people.
The eight banks have a combined branch network of 36 branches
in Enugu metropolis and the neighbouring towns of Agbani and Ituku
Ozalla.
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